Only 54 More Days Until Christmas

So you have all heard me blog about the What Would Jesus Buy documentary, but since we are upon another fast approaching Christmas I just had to repeat it.
If you havent' watched What Would Jesus Buy I highly recommend it. Yes, much of the "act" they put on is a little offensive to Christians, but once you get beyond that and listen to what he has to say its extremely important information.

For me, I think Consumerism is one of the biggest issues for why our Earth is hurting so much. If we weren't constantly consuming we wouldn't need to be producing things and then ultimately throwing things away. Its a vicious cycle and for me, its the root of many of our problems we are facing today.

I also think that a lot of my issues with consumerism is because I worked in Retail for nearly 10 yrs. That alone will wear you down. I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever experienced a real Christmas because I was working SO much. I can remember the year before I finally said enough on retail I was working over 50 hours in one week--over a matter of days--before Christmas a few years ago. The money from that paycheck was NOT worth it in the end and it made me sad to think I couldn't even DO christmas type things like see a concert or go look at lights because I was slaving away selling stuff.

It is only about 4 weeks until Black Friday too. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and it is dubbed Black Friday because its when many stores go into the "black" for their sales. AKA: they finally make money instead of being in the red. You want to be in the black.

I used to loathe the day after thanksgiving. People were just straight up mean--and for what? Some THING. I can still remember a lady telling me I ruined a little kids Christmas because I put back the Christopher Robin stuffed toy when she didn't have the $$ to pay for it. She came back into the store with the money and got right up in my face. I mean it was a STUFFED TOY!!!!
Why are we killing ourselves to get things?
Why do we wait in line for HOURS to buy the next greatest, latest thing??
Why do we get up at 3am to get in line at a store that opens at 5am??
Does this seems crazy to anyone or is it just me?

This year we are not doing that. Last year we didn't and it felt weird not doing it. I will admit that before I became more and more educated about consumerism and eco-friendly thinking I was one of the many who lined up to go buy some 'thing' that I just had to save $$ on by buying it the day after Thanksgiving. But no more. Its silly and why people get all vicious about it I wish them well and hope they become more aware of why they are doing it.

So anyway. Over the next weeks or so I'm probably going to preach preach preach the issues of consumerism and hope that you consider your buying this Christmas. But most importantly, lets make this Christmas be what it was intended for---to celebrate Christ's Birth.